Collective Architecture have been appointed to lead the design of a new co-collection store for the City of Edinburgh Council’s City Archives and Museums & Galleries. Currently at feasibility stage the development will bringing together collections from 11 different venues around the city into a new passive store. This exemplar building will be open to the public to facilitate research and educational outreach to the city, linking to the city’s already rich heritage and cultural venues. The client aspires for the project to achieve Passivhaus certification in order to meet the stringent requirements for management of the environmental conditions required for storage of the city’s archive and heritage collections with the added benefit of reduce the ongoing operational energy costs.

The stores, contained within an air tight, super insulated black box are to be kept at a stable temperature and relative humidity throughout the year. By limiting heat loss through air leakage or thermal conductivity allows the internal environment to be managed with simpler and cheaper air handling equipment, lowering capital and operational costs through the life of the building.

Simplified controls aim to put control of the building in the hands of the archivists and conservators who use the building on a day to day basis, reducing dependency on facilities management teams.

The staff and public wing of the building are designed to meet the Passivhaus requirements for comfort and energy use, providing internal environments that are a pleasure to visit and work in.

The design is exploring further passive design measures to respond to its local context and capitalise on its orientation.

Substantial roof areas will be fitted with solar photo voltaic panels to generate energy on site.

Green and blue roofs will provide ecological habitats for local flora and fauna whilst serving to attenuate rainwater as part of the building’s SUDS strategy. Options for phyto-remediation of contaminated ground and SUDS basins are being investigated as part of the site wide development and sustainability strategy.